Kevin Dyas (born 26 October 1987) is a

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

er who played at senior level for the Armagh county team and for

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

team Collingwood.

Gaelic football

At underage level, Dyas captaining the Armagh minor team to an Ulster Title in 2005. He was also instrumental in guiding his school, Abbey CBS to a

MacRory Cup The MacRory Cup is an inter-college (school) Gaelic football tournament in Ulster at senior "A" grade. The MacLarnon Cup is the competition for schools at senior 'B' grade. Players must be under nineteen at the start of the tournament. The win ...

and first ever

Hogan Cup The Hogan Cup ( ga, Corn Uí Ógáin), also known as the All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Senior A Football Championship, is the top level Gaelic football championship for secondary schools (sometimes referred to as colleges) in Ireland. The com ...

title in 2006. Dyas was a senior football panelist with Armagh in 2007 under

Joe Kernan Joe Kernan or Joseph Kernan may refer to: * Joe Kernan (baseball), 19th-century American baseball player * Joe Kernan (Gaelic footballer) (born 1954) * Joe Kernan (politician) (1946–2020), American politician * Joseph D. Kernan (born 1955), Uni ...

, making his debut against

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

, and also played half back with Armagh club Dromintee.

Australian rules football

Dyas was scouted and recruited by Collingwood and became the second Irish player to be drafted by Collingwood after fellow Irishman

Martin Clarke Martin "Marty" Clarke ( ga, Máirtín Ó Cléirigh; born 13 November 1987) is a Gaelic and former Australian rules footballer who played for the Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) from 2007 to 2009 and again from ...

, but unlike Clarke, the club took a gamble with a more mature player in Dyas. Kevin lived with Collingwood's football operations manager Geoff Walsh and his family. He played 13 games for Collingwood's reserves in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

and looked likely for a senior call-up after some good form, however a severe rupture of his hamstring ruled him out for the 2008 season. A recurrence of the hamstring injury in the 2009 pre-season ruled Dyas out of selection contention for the majority of his second season. Due to this run of hamstring trouble and homesickness he decided to return home after the 2009 season.

Return

In 2009, Dyas returned to Ireland and joined back up with Armagh GAA under the guidance of Down man Paddy O'Rourke.

Honours

* 1 Ulster Under-21 Football Championship 2007 * 1 Ulster Minor Football Championship 2005 * 1 National Football League Division 2 2010 * 1

2006 * 1

2006

References

1988 births Living people Armagh inter-county Gaelic footballers Dromintee St Patrick's Gaelic footballers Gaelic footballers who switched code Irish emigrants to Australia People from Armagh (city) {{AFL-bio-1980s-stub